[MD] Multiculturalism scam

[Ham Priday]

Ron and Platt --

On 12/31 Platt quoted LILA, Chptr. 24:

"A culture that supports the dominance of social values over
 biological values is an absolutely superior culture to one that
does not, and a culture that supports the dominance of intellectual
values over social values is absolutely superior to one that does not."

Ron replied:


> I ...have no problem with stating that Pirsig's quote ...is faulty.
> A culture IS the dominance of social values over biological values,
> and Intellectual values are defined by the culture they emerge from.
>
> Therefore judging cultures by this standard is unequivocally bias[ed]
> and unsound.

I think that criticism is justified.  Categorizing values into biological, 
social and intellectual is problematic because the process of categorization 
is itself intellectual.  Besides, there is no need to organize Value into
categories.  Value isn't a tri-partite system like the French Revolutionary 
motto "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité".
In fact, value is infinitely differentiated in experiential reality.  There 
are sensory values, moral values, rational values, aesthetic values, 
cultural values, academic values, culinary values, musical values, etc., so 
that defining value as a triadic axiom is not only epistemologically unsound 
but philosophically deceptive.  It's a metaphoric scheme invented by Pirsig 
to circumvent the fundamental subject/object duality.

Ron is right that a culture is achieved by adapting individual (biological?) 
values to conform with a collective (socially moral) system.  You can't 
judge the morality of a culture by its "intellect" any more than you can 
judge the quality of a flower by its color.  If intellect is to be the 
dominant value in existence, then what value does the biological human being 
have?  Man isn't fabricated out of intellect, nor can he "reason" his way 
into existence.  Clearly we need biological and chemical processes to become 
aware of ourselves and experience a world external to us.  Rationality and 
value-sensibility are the attributes which make man the dominant creature in 
the universe, whether his activities and achievements are evaluated 
individually or in terms of his cultural history.

Let me take this opportunity to wish both of you happiness and good health 
in the new year.

Best regards,
Ham